1ST HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS IN U.S. DESCRIBE THEIR HELL

SUNRISE -- Leo and Sonia Weissman of Sunrise are footnotes in history, but they traveled through hell to get there.

More than two decades ago, the couple sprinted down a ship's gangplank in New York City to become the first Holocaust survivors to immigrate to the United States, according to 1946 newspaper accounts.

"We never believed, none of us, that we would ever come alive out of the camps," recalled Leo Weissman, 66. "We came from the darkest place in mankind into a country that was the shining light of the world."

That was May 20, 1946.

After 11 days at sea, the Weissmans arrived in New York City among 800 Holocaust survivors aboard the first boat allowed into the States after President Harry Truman relaxed immigration quotas.

In their excitement, the Weissmans ran past other passengers on the gangplank and onto the front pages of New York's daily newspapers.

Those news clippings and other memorabilia are scattered throughout the couple's Sunrise Lakes condominium.

In the front closet, covered with a plastic bag, is a faded blue-and-white striped shirt, with a red and yellow Star of David over the left breast and the number 70258.

The same number is burned into Weissman's left forearm, a chilling reminder of six years he spent in concentration camps.

"Coming off that boat instilled a responsibility in me," Leo Weissman said. "I have said to myself, 'If I was one of the lucky ones to survive, I must tell my story until the end of my days."'

The Weissmans will describe their experiences at an educational symposium on the Holocaust on Tuesday at Justin's Caterers on North University Drive in Sunrise.

At age 16, Leo Weissman was sent to his first concentration camp.

As he moved from one hell to the next, the mental and physical torture worsened "day by day."

"At the second camp, we were forced to squat on our knees and hold bricks for hours at a time," Leo Weissman said, holding his palms face up. "If we dropped the bricks, we were beaten. At this point, we did not know if the next morning was going to come."